Seattle, June 14, 2000

Recognition of outgoing and new officers

Paul Meis introduced Edem Ekwo as our new President, who in turn thanked Paul for his contributions as President. Edem thanked outgoing officer Martha Werler for her contributions as member-at-large and introduced our new officers Germaine Buck, President Elect, and Russell Kirby, Member-at-Large.

Secretary’s report – Suzan Carmichael

• 172 people registered for this meeting, which is a record
• 134 abstracts were submitted, which is also a record; 104 were accepted

Treasurer’s report – Cande Ananth

• As of 6/6, our bank balance was $20,801.87, which does not take into consideration the meeting support we received from NICHD and that we may receive from March of Dimes (see attached report)
• SPER received $906 in donations for the Heinz Berendes International Travel Award; the Executive Committee will need to decide how to use this money in the future
• Mary Croughan-Minihane suggested that because we are in a good financial position, and we appear to be growing as a society, it may be time to reconsider running the society on a volunteer basis and contracting out some of the administrative functions or developing a central office
• Pauline Mendola asked whether Ananth was planning to change the start of the fiscal year to the calendar year, instead of June 1, which the members approved at last year's meeting. He reported that he may change reporting in the future, but was concerned that changing it would lead to the need for biannual rather than annual reporting of finances.

• Allen Wilcox noted that the journal is thriving. One of the goals of the journal is to carry on a sense of community of SPER during the year. He suggested that SPER solicit commentaries to facilitate this sort of dialogue. He also expressed thanks to reviewers and asked that members submit recommendations for new reviewers, particularly newer investigators.

• Paul Meis opened a discussion of expanding the meeting time, to begin at 2:00, instead of 6:00, on the first day of the meeting.
• Concerns included difficulties with travel time and conflicts with SER. Members suggested increasing the number of presentations instead of expanding the time, or finding ways to use the current time more innovatively
• Benefits included increased time for dialogue and more flexibility for developing alternative meeting formats
• Members voted in favor of an expanded meeting time, at least on a trial basis

• The Executive Committee is going to investigate the cost of hiring a contractor to develop a relational database system for abstract submission, processing, and review. This would decrease the workload on the officers.

• Members were referred to the report prepared by Linda Van Marter

• Ananth, who handled the contract for developing the web-site, asked for member feedback on the site

• Edem encouraged members to include their email addresses in their contact information and encouraged them to give input about the organization

• Pauline Mendola suggested that we consider developing an honorable mention award for student papers
• Edem noted that this year we invited the two 'runners-up' for the student prize to present their papers as posters, and we offered to publish their abstracts along with the others.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:30 pm.